The US Open is underway, with major happenings! Lower-ranked players have ousted the Paris Olympic medal winners in the men’s category. And in the women’s category, Coco Gauff is all set for a rematch against Emma Navarro, where she will be looking to avenge the loss in the Wimbledon Championships. While these are some of the exciting news from Flushing Meadows, there have been shades of controversies as well, and one, for instance, happened in the match between Yulia Putintseva and Jasmine Paolini earlier today. Putintseva was at the center of it, as she received a bit of flak from the fans as well as the German legend Boris Becker.

It’s not unusual for tennis players to lose their cool when they are indulged in high-stakes battles against the best. The same was the scenario during the Paolini vs Putintseva match. The Italian tennis star defeated Putintseva in straight sets to proceed further into the tournament. During the match, a visibly upset Putintseva kept looking at the stands, trying to find a way out of the tricky situation and force the match into a decider. And amidst all the thinking, the Kazakh ignored two balls passed by the ball girl in her direction, before catching the third ball, and lifting the 2nd from the court.

This led to a round of “boos” from fans. Further, Boris Becker also shared his disappointment about Putintseva’s behavior on the court, as he thought this was an act of arrogance. Becker took a dig at the player and wrote on X: “Who does Putintseva think she is …Terrible behavior towards the ball girl !!!”

While Putintseva was already disappointed after her loss, it got aggravated after the match, as tennis fans criticized her for lack of sportsmanship. However, later in good faith, the player apologized to the ball girl for her untoward behavior through an Instagram story. She wrote, “I want to apologize to her for the way I was when she was giving me the balls.” Furthermore, Putintseva also shared the reason behind the lack of attention to the ball girl.

Yulia Putintseva opens up about her “disrespectful behavior” during the R3 match at the US Open

An emotionally charged match certainly leaves its impact for days to come. Sometimes it gives beautiful moments and on other occasions, a controversy for ages. When the latter happened with Yulia Putintseva, she opened up about her situation during the match. It’s better to clear the air before it becomes the wind!

She said, “Honestly speaking, it was not about her. I was really p***** off at myself for not winning the game from the breaking point and then got empty with my emotions and deep in my thoughts that I was not even focusing on what was going on and who gave me the ball. All the ball kids were doing amazing as always at the Open.”

Previously, the Kazakh player had opened up about being different on the tennis court after her R2 match against Wang Xinyu. She had said, “On the court, I have different kinds of personality… I’m so emotional and I think the people can see when I’m frustrated with something and when I’m enjoying playing. Off the court, I’m different. I’m an angel. Not always, but my mom tells me that.”

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After drawing criticism from all corners, including the legends, Yulia Putintseva would certainly like to forget this outing at Flushing Meadows as quickly as possible. Hopefully, she will turn things around next time!